Qualcomm conducts a BREW Conference each year in San Diego, where BREW developers, customers, and marketing members across multiple telecom companies come together to hear a variety of speakers and demonstrations on our BREW product. (BREW is a Qualcomm solution which consists of a code platform that non-Qualcomm cell phone developers can "write on top of". This allows them to use a common code set which includes basic functionality like an address book and call history log, but customize the icons or add other specialized graphics or applications on the cell phone chip as wanted).
Why on earth would I be excited that the BREW conference was coming to San Diego this week? The answer is simple. A group of old friends from Qualcomm Boulder came to San Diego for the week to attend the conference! Last night, my good friend Stevi called me and said, "Katie! The finale of the BREW conference is a concert and free dinner in the Gaslamp District in downtown San Diego. I have an extra ticket! Can you come?" I accepted and took an exciting drive down I-5 to the heart of San Diego. The entire main street of the Gaslamp District was blocked off. The edges of the roads were lined with free gourmet food, all leading towards a huge concert stage where the performance from a legendary rock band titled "LIVE" would perform. The concert was wonderful (and quite loud), and the company of my old Boulder friends was great. After the concert, we decided to go to some of the bars on the street. (Generally, my age would restrict me from entering these bars at night. However, I was lucky that the percentage of Qualcomm workers under 21 is probably less than 0.5% . Thus, no IDs were checked and I was able to spend more time with my friends!) We were all hanging out and dancing while devouring the free table of desserts. Then we noticed someone on the dance floor. Paul Jacobs, the CEO of Qualcomm global, was dancing only a few feet away from us with his wife. Having seen Mr. Jacobs speak on numerous occasions, I cannot tell you how excited I was to be so close to someone I deeply respect. My friend Stevi and I seized the moment and got a picture with him. I will post it on this blog as soon as she uploads the pictures to her computer! Needless to say, the whole night seemed very surreal. Who would have thought I would be chatting and sipping a long island iced tea along side the CEO on my third day at Qualcomm SD?
Friday, May 30, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
My first few days on the job
I think many engineering interns might agree with me: the first days at a new internship are rarely packed with excitement and legitimate work to be completed. Thus, my more relaxed schedule has allowed me to begin a blog documenting my summer adventures here in sunny San Diego!
I arrived in town on Sunday, May 25th to an executive suite apartment in a corporate housing complex (paid for by Qualcomm for the summer). The drive to San Diego was everything I had heard and more. Whether I was climbing a mountain pass at a slow 40 mph or racing at a terrifying 75 mph on the 5-lane interstates, CA drivers are either three inches from my back bumper or ripping past me in the passing lane. Yet the reward was beyond belief. With my apartment located less than 2 miles from the beach and less than 2 miles from the work, the negative aspect of traffic seems negligible. The "executive suite" contains 2 bedrooms with queen-sized beds, 2 bathrooms, a living room, a dining room, and a fully stocked kitchen. Did I forget to mention it also has 3 TVs, 2 DVD players, a patio, phone, high-speed internet and cable TV included? Needless to say, I consider myself very fortunate to have such a generous place to live at this point in my career. I have also met my roommate, Anne Sellner, who is pursuing her BA in Public Affairs at Pennslyvania State University. I count myself doubly fortunate to have a roommate who is fun and easy to get along with.
FIRST DAY OF WORK (if you can even call it "work"):
This may have been the easiest day of paid work I will ever encounter in my career. We were asked to dress casual, as we weren't going to meet our managers that day. Orientation consisted of free breakfast and playing Qualcomm-develped Wii videogames, followed by a tour of the Qualcomm campus and a brief overview of its history, ending with a free lunch. It was great to see so many familiar faces of HR members (I met a number of them on the two times I traveled to San Diego while working at the Boulder QC location the past year). I must admit that is is comforting when people know your name already on the first day, as it is all to easy to blend into the sea of the 500 interns Qualcomm San Diego hires each summer! We were let out at 1 PM, so I decided to spend the rest of the day shopping at an outdoor mall in La Jolla just a few blocks from my apartment complex. I had no trouble finding ways to spend all of the money I was being paid for "working 8 hours" that day at Qualcomm! Armed with some new sunglasses, a new bathing suit, and a sun dress, I could tell that my first day of "work" was a day to envy.
To finsih a nearly perfect first day, my roommate Anne and I signed up for a free cooking class provided by the housing association and learned how to make some delicious Mediterranean food! We also capped off the evening by relaxing our "stressed-out" muscles in the hot tubs. It turns out that going to the hot tubs was a lucky idea, as we talked with a few other locals about where the sharks like to hang out (or more importantly, where they don't!).
Note to self: Seals are sharks favorite food. If you you see one, wade in ocean to take a picture then get the HECK OUT OF THE WATER!!
SECOND DAY OF WORK:
My second day of work began with a meeting with my team lead, Surendar Thaneer. (My hiring manager is actually Felix Naveen Singh. Since he is a Director, he must delegate his duties accordingly). The team I have joined is called Multimedia functional. I offer two descriptions of the team:
1. For my engineering friends: I will be writing test scripts in Perl and MATLAB to test the functionality of the camera and videocamera apps. The point is to basically automate the testing and provide proof to the OEMs that our software has been thoroughly tested.
2. For my non-engineering friends: My guess would be your cell phone has a camera and videocamera on it? If you enjoy them, good! I spend 40 hours a work helping to develop and test their functionality!
The major part of today consists of setting up my office enviornment and meeting various people on my team. I have also made an effort to set up and concentrate a number of meetings and demos with my team memebers in the next few days to get a strong foothold on my future work.
For lunch I joined a fellow intern on my team, Devika. Qualcomm is notorious for having large amounts of leftover food distributed around the buildings just after the lunch hour. We followed a tip from another intern friend and snagged some delicious free Chinese food. I have heard stories of legendary interns who never pay for a lunch their entire time with Qualcomm, and I can only hope I might one day join their prestigous rankings! haha
I arrived in town on Sunday, May 25th to an executive suite apartment in a corporate housing complex (paid for by Qualcomm for the summer). The drive to San Diego was everything I had heard and more. Whether I was climbing a mountain pass at a slow 40 mph or racing at a terrifying 75 mph on the 5-lane interstates, CA drivers are either three inches from my back bumper or ripping past me in the passing lane. Yet the reward was beyond belief. With my apartment located less than 2 miles from the beach and less than 2 miles from the work, the negative aspect of traffic seems negligible. The "executive suite" contains 2 bedrooms with queen-sized beds, 2 bathrooms, a living room, a dining room, and a fully stocked kitchen. Did I forget to mention it also has 3 TVs, 2 DVD players, a patio, phone, high-speed internet and cable TV included? Needless to say, I consider myself very fortunate to have such a generous place to live at this point in my career. I have also met my roommate, Anne Sellner, who is pursuing her BA in Public Affairs at Pennslyvania State University. I count myself doubly fortunate to have a roommate who is fun and easy to get along with.
FIRST DAY OF WORK (if you can even call it "work"):
This may have been the easiest day of paid work I will ever encounter in my career. We were asked to dress casual, as we weren't going to meet our managers that day. Orientation consisted of free breakfast and playing Qualcomm-develped Wii videogames, followed by a tour of the Qualcomm campus and a brief overview of its history, ending with a free lunch. It was great to see so many familiar faces of HR members (I met a number of them on the two times I traveled to San Diego while working at the Boulder QC location the past year). I must admit that is is comforting when people know your name already on the first day, as it is all to easy to blend into the sea of the 500 interns Qualcomm San Diego hires each summer! We were let out at 1 PM, so I decided to spend the rest of the day shopping at an outdoor mall in La Jolla just a few blocks from my apartment complex. I had no trouble finding ways to spend all of the money I was being paid for "working 8 hours" that day at Qualcomm! Armed with some new sunglasses, a new bathing suit, and a sun dress, I could tell that my first day of "work" was a day to envy.
To finsih a nearly perfect first day, my roommate Anne and I signed up for a free cooking class provided by the housing association and learned how to make some delicious Mediterranean food! We also capped off the evening by relaxing our "stressed-out" muscles in the hot tubs. It turns out that going to the hot tubs was a lucky idea, as we talked with a few other locals about where the sharks like to hang out (or more importantly, where they don't!).
Note to self: Seals are sharks favorite food. If you you see one, wade in ocean to take a picture then get the HECK OUT OF THE WATER!!
SECOND DAY OF WORK:
My second day of work began with a meeting with my team lead, Surendar Thaneer. (My hiring manager is actually Felix Naveen Singh. Since he is a Director, he must delegate his duties accordingly). The team I have joined is called Multimedia functional. I offer two descriptions of the team:
1. For my engineering friends: I will be writing test scripts in Perl and MATLAB to test the functionality of the camera and videocamera apps. The point is to basically automate the testing and provide proof to the OEMs that our software has been thoroughly tested.
2. For my non-engineering friends: My guess would be your cell phone has a camera and videocamera on it? If you enjoy them, good! I spend 40 hours a work helping to develop and test their functionality!
The major part of today consists of setting up my office enviornment and meeting various people on my team. I have also made an effort to set up and concentrate a number of meetings and demos with my team memebers in the next few days to get a strong foothold on my future work.
For lunch I joined a fellow intern on my team, Devika. Qualcomm is notorious for having large amounts of leftover food distributed around the buildings just after the lunch hour. We followed a tip from another intern friend and snagged some delicious free Chinese food. I have heard stories of legendary interns who never pay for a lunch their entire time with Qualcomm, and I can only hope I might one day join their prestigous rankings! haha
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